Filenews 13 December 2021
Faced with the law that provides for the mandatory attendance of children until the age of 15, are those parents and guardians, who decide to keep their children at home because of their refusal to conduct a rapid test and the use of masks.
In recent weeks, as we are informed, there are many cases of complaints that come before the Police from the Ministry of Education concerning parents who do not send their children to school due to the measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus. According to the measures in force, the school managements records the cases of absent students and then inform the Ministry of Education, which in turn proceeds to complaints to the Police, which is obliged to investigate these cases, based on the legislation in force.
On his part, the Minister of Education, Prodromos Prodromos, in his statements last week, said that the incidents recorded concern only 1.93%. "In other words, 98% of the new measures are implemented without any problems. Specifically, if children who are absent from schools due to the pandemic are removed, i.e. who are either close contacts or have contracted the disease, it seems that almost all the rest of the children, in almost 90%, in all provinces, come to schools. More specifically, 89% of children were normally presented in schools yesterday, while around 9% are justifiably absent - either due to the pandemic or for other reasons, as is always the case - and in this way in the total of 47,232 students of primary schools we have only a few dozen children whose parents try to send them to school without the protective mask", Mr Prodromou said.
Penalties
It is worth noting that the penalties provided by the legislation for cases of obstruction of children under 15 years of age, are a fine of €1,000 or 3 months imprisonment or both penalties.
Parents and guardians are initially reported in writing and then summoned before a court.
